My Brightest Burning Flame In My Darkest Hours
by 1F
Summary: A young boy cleans his attic for his grandmother one day and discovers she might not have been such a boring lady back in the day. The story of a young hot headed tomboy who walks home from school in the rain one day to witness a very unpleasant surprise of a boy throwing a Vulpix off a bridge into a river. My first attempt at a writing.


"Grandma!"

The old women turned around to the young boy standing in the kitchen, he walked into the living room next to her chair and held out something. The women tilted her glasses and looked at it and her eyes lit up.

"I found this in the attic and all of your photos and badges too!" The boy held up a worn out red hat.

Why didn't you tell me you were a champion?! What was it like when you were a trainer, what made you want to be a trainer? What age did you start-"

The old women started laughing and tears welded up and dripped down her face.

The boy had a panicked look on his face like something was wrong and the women waved towards the couch motioning for the boy to sit and took the sleeve of her shirt and wiped her tears.

"Grandma..?"

The young boy sat down on the couch next to the old women. Her white long hair was slung over her shoulder tied in a red ribbon at the bottom and her small glasses framed her face as she looked up at the boy.

"Well you will be starting out soon, I suppose I could tell you." She smiled.

The boy's face lit up. My how he looked like his grandfather and his father.

"Grab me a glass of lemonade with ice from the fridge and I'll tell you everything."

The boy sprang up from the couch and ran into the kitchen. The old women chuckled and petted her companion sitting on the floor next to her.

"Well it's been a while since I've told our story hasn't it, Nai?" The cream colored pokemon smiled and nodded as the boy rushed back into the room putting the glass onto the table next to her almost spilling it and sat back down. The women took a sip and set it back down and cleared her throat. She closed her eyes and began to think.

"There are many things in this world I've seen, horrors that the darkest moments still make me shudder to the core, moments I thought it was all over, moments where the world seemed to hang on my shoulders. Moments where I couldn't comprehend what was happening or had yet to understand. But the things I've come to realize, is that the littlest things in life, are what make the bigger things all the more important. Life has its surprises, but there's always for a reason for everything in the end. You never know how important something so precious, innocent, loving and forgiving could be corroded by an evil heart until you see it with your own eyes. If there is one thing I've learned, it's that there is no such thing as monsters, only humans. Pokemon are amazing creatures that never for a second stopped amazing me. I grew up roaming the globe, but never alone. I had friends I made along the way; I also caught many of them too. Friendships transcend life times, and there's something that's the most important thing you can ever imagine. For some the hardest to find, for some it hits them like a bullet. But you will never forget it once you have it. And you will learn it's something that never leaves you."

"I never knew how one Pokemon walking into my life could change my world forever. My brightest burning flame in my darkest hour- The strength to get back up after having everything ripped away from me- The one who above all never lost faith in me. The one who stood beside me every single step of the way getting back up again and again fighting for me, loving me, and giving me all my meaning of life-"

"Was you, my dearest friend."

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Man, I hate reading out loud... It's almost time to get out of school, the sun was setting through the windows, and the clouds were coming out. It was going to rain. I could see the clouds coming in and feel it. And I didn't have an umbrella... Damn...

I took a deep breath and began to read my essay.

"My mother is a quiet soft spoken farmer; she's not good at saying "I love you." But her actions show it. She loves Ponytas and Rapidashs, her mother was world famous for riding and breading them. My father is fisherman; he's a very laid back, but very protective and loving. He works hard to bring home the bacon. He loves water Pokemon most of all. He has a Gyarados and a Kingler, Tentacruel and a Cloyster. Gyarados is fun to ride on for the 4th of July for the fireworks; he lets me sit on his head. But last year he got jealous when everyone was cheering at the fireworks, he let out a hyper beam after hyper beam until he couldn't anymore. He's a real show off. Since then, dad won't let me take him out alone. Gyarados and I still laugh about it."

"Dads Kingler is named King, he likes to try eating the bait in the bait box on my father's fishing boat, but I always sneak him some when Dads not looking. He blows bubbles and snaps his claws to thank me. Tentacruel is lazy. He just likes to float next to the boat and sleep. I've had spitting contest with him, and he spits his ink really far. So I always lose. His Cloyster can be a bit of snob. But when I was younger he would play peekaboo with me by opening his shell and making funny faces at me."

"My older sister Beka is nine years older than me. She's got pretty huge boobs too, and she's very pretty, and pretty good at cooking. She cooks all the time with her Chansey and Clifable. I've tried cooking, but I end up with flour everywhere or I end up eating the cookie dough."

"I hope someday I'll be able to get a Pokemon of my own. I love watching the battles on T.V, and I think it's so cool how much people and Pokemon can get along and achieve their goals together. I think Pokemon bring out the best in humans, and in return we help them bring out the best in themselves."

The class clapped and I handed my paper to my teacher and sat down.

"Thank you for reading Nao, but we could've gone without hearing about your sister's breast." Miss Katsy said adjusting her glasses and sighing.

"But her Boobs are huge! It's not fair! Miss Katsy, what age did yours come in, they're huge too! "I said. I always loved making her feel uncomfortable. She was such a serious women, but deep down really kind hearted and shy. But do something and stupid, and she was that one teacher you didn't want to catch you.

The class started to laugh. Miss Katsey's face lit up and she rolled up my paper and hit her desk with it.

"Q-quiet down! If you must know, mine started to come in when I was 14. You'll all go through changes when you get older. B-but this isn't health class!" She pressed her glasses up with her finger and sighed.

"Up next is Chad, you may all go home after he's done reading, children. Please come up and read, Chad."

I smirked, I knew I had won. My classmate Koda and I had fist-bumped as I sat down back at my seat next to him and we snickered. We were horrible little kids. But we knew she loved us. And I was such a tomboy at the time.

Chad got up from the back of the class, he was a big boy. Dark short black hair with an orange and yellow striped shirt and blue jeans. His father and mine didn't see eye to eye. His father was about as much of a crook as a person can be. A real asshole, and because our fathers didn't see eye to eye, when it came to picking on other kids, I was his favorite. He walked down the isle of desk and as he passed, he glared at me. I smirked back. I was half his size, but like hell I'd let him get to me.

Chad got up to the front of the class and smiled, and held up his paper and began reading. I rolled my eyes as he explained how great of a fisherman his father was. I could tell he was comparing his to mine because he would glance up to see if I was listening. I sighed and laid back in my chair looking out the window. The rain started. Crap.

I glanced up and saw how many papers Chad had. He had about ten papers, and he began to fake stutter. So that's his plan... He knew I didn't have an umbrella because HE was the one who broke it last month. He planned on being last to make sure it was pouring before I left. Chad shot up a smirk at me knowing I had caught on. The thunder let loose and began to crackle as the rain got heavier.

He was finally done reading and gave Miss Katsey his paper and walked to the back of the class and grabbed his backpack. Everyone stood up and gathered their things to leave. I grabbed my red backpack and was headed out the door. Miss Katsey put her hand on my shoulder as I was about to walk out.

"Hold on a second." Miss Katsey said. She walked behind her desk and tended to her purse. Chad had walked out snickering. As we stood at the schools front door I watched everyone sharing umbrellas walking home and the rain began pouring and the fog had settled in.

"Here you go." She said smiling and handing me a dark purple umbrella. Purple was Miss Katsey's favorite color. She had long red hair she always put up in a ponytail. She reminded me of the Kanto's Elite Four, Lorelei. She always had a business women feel to her.

"Wouldn't want to soak that pretty blonde hair you've got now would we? Catching a cold isn't good for your health. You'd miss school!"

I took the umbrella and smiled. "Thank you." I said.

She got down on one knee eye level to me. "You know, I wouldn't worry about your breast size right now. They're really a huge burden; they get in the way a lot. You have to spend extra money trying to find the perfect size bra, and it's a hassle. You're a skinny little thing, and I know you feel like your sister is better then you, but I can tell you're going to grow up to a beauty. Even if you are a tomboy now, you'll outgrow it and start to like different things. Boys will start to look at you differently and girls will act snobby. But not you, you tell 'em like it is."

She cupped my cheeks in her soft warm hands.

"Besides, your sister has different charms about her, but you have your own charms about you too. You have blonde hair; no one else in your family has blonde hair. I would be proud of it if I were you. And you love Pokemon; you're very smart for your age kid, even though you act like a little brat sometimes to get some attention. Even though Chad tries to bother you, just ignore him. You'll find something wonderful in life and I bet Chad will grow up as hateful as his father. Don't worry about the future honey, everything can only get better. You'll make a wonderful trainer someday!"

The one thing I loved about Miss Katsey is she knew the right things to say at the right time. I hugged her and smiled and ran out the door. She waved goodbye and I turned around and shouted "Thank you, Miss Katsey!" and ran off.

The rain was coming down hard. I just had to cross the wooden bridge now and I'd be almost home. My sneakers were already soaked and my pant legs were drenched. I started running down the road until I came to the old wooden bridge. There's someone standing on it. A big figure. Great, it was Chad. But he had his Poliwag with him. What would they be doing in the rain? They should've walked home by now. Something didn't feel right. I got closer and saw a vulpix. Before I knew what was going on, his poliwag had used bubble beam and knocked a vulpix off the bridge into the water. And before I knew what was going on, I threw my backpack off and began running, running as hard as I could. I shoved passed Chad and for a split second his eyes caught mine, and were in shock that I was there. I leapt off the bridge into the water. What the hell was I doing!? I can't even swim! Dad had tried to teach me but It never really clicked for me. The current was strong; I began gasping for air and could barely move my arms. But the Vulpix, I had to get it.

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I took one huge breath and began to kick my legs as hard as I could with waves smashing into my face. I saw the Vulpix up ahead flailing. I kicked harder and harder trying to move my arms but keep my head above water as well. Every time I opened my mouth water poured in. I spit out as much water as I could when one huge wave pushed me up, and took the largest breath I could and swam over to it and grabbed it. I grabbed its head and pulled it above water as much as I could while still keeping mine above water the best I could. I saw a tree branch was coming up ahead. I kicked as hard as I could to swim to the left side of the river and managed to grab it. The rain was blowing hard in my face it felt like pebbles were being shot at me. I had only my right hand free; I pulled myself in on the branch and managed to pull myself in enough to feel the bottom of the river bank with my feet. I started to try to walk on the bottom against the current to the banking as best as I could. I managed to be able to put the Vulpix on my head and used both arms to get me to the banking and climbed up the rocks.

I walked over a safe distance from the river bank and watched as my bright red backpack went down the river as well. Chad must've panicked and thrown my bag. I was too tired to care, I walked under a big tree holding Vulpix, hearing it finally breathe and fill its lungs with air. It was soaked to the bone under my arm but I could tell it was breathing. The next thing I knew, I blacked out.

The second I opened my eyes, a bright burnt orange thing was in my face, and licking me. It was about 12pm, I could tell because the sun was high in the sky. I squeezed my eyes closed and sat up. Damn my head hurt... I opened my eyes to see the Vulpix in my lap staring at me. I scratched my head and smiled at it. It looked up at me with dark brown eyes and nuzzled my chest. I laughed as it kept trying to shove its snout into my chest and armpit.

"Are you alright?" I said petting the orange curls on its head. It settled down and looked up at me.

"Voe! Voee!" It said nodding. Its fur looked dried off, but a bit mangy.

"Well, that's good to hear." I said picking it up and standing up. Damn did my legs hurt...

"How about we go home and get some food? I'm pretty damn hungry."

Vulpix's ears perked up, and before I could turn around I heard people shouting in the distance.

"I've found her backpack, do you see her!?" A man yells. Then before I could respond, a Growlith dashes through the bushes and at the foot of my feet and barks. A tall woman with dark green hair in a blue suit comes rushing through the bushes. It was officer Jenny.

"I've found her!" She says running over to me and putting her hands on my shoulder.

"There you are, your parents have been looking for you all night since you didn't come home! We had thought you drowned!"

"I almost did." I say. I looked down at Vulpix who was making a guilty sadden face.

"**We**, almost did." I clung the creature closer to my chest and it buried it's snout against my chest again.

Officer Jenny had radioed everyone the search was over and we walked through the woods back to the main road. I sat in the backseat of the cop car and noticed Vulpix didn't want to stop clinging to me.

"It's alright you know, we can bring you to your family if you'd like. I'm sure they're worried about you." I said petting its orange curls. I could feel the small creature shaking and feel its warm tears soaking into my shirt. Something was wrong, a fire Pokemon wouldn't run around in the rain.

"Don't worry, you can stay with me if you'd like." I said petting the mangy brown fur.

I noticed something as its tails draped over my arms as I cuddled it, on its tail, it didn't have six tails, it had three. I read that they had six a couple months ago for a report I did on fire types. Vulpix and Ninetales were in my report. Vulpix's are born with one tail that splits into more as they get older. It grows into six tails, and then they grew three more tails when they evolved. But this vulpix was too big to just have three tails, it should have six by now...

Officer Jenny got off the phone with my parents and got in the car. After some small talk I was too tired and hungry to keep talking and fell asleep in the back of the car cradling the napping creature.

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I awoke to the sound of the car door opening and cradled the Vulpix in my arms and stepped out as my father had stepped out of the house and began walking over to me.

"Thank you, officer. We'll take it from here." He said putting his arm around me and walking me into the house. Officer Jenny nodded and got back into her car. "Take care." She said, and then she drove off.

We got inside and dads face peered down on me. "So, what happened, Nao?"

I stopped for a moment. I didn't want my father and Chads father to start fighting again, the last time they did, he had cut my father's fishing traps causing us to almost losing our house.

"I saw this Vulpix fall into the river, and I just jumped in without thinking." I said avoiding his gaze. His bright blue eyes were hard to lie to. I didn't like lying, but I didn't like to stir up shit either. His eyes caught onto what I was holding, I was hoping he wouldn't even notice.

"So that's a vulpix you've got there?" He said looking down on vulpix. Vulpix's face was buried in my armpit; dad leaned in close to look at it. When it turned its head around, dad was too close for comfort I guess, and she let out a small flamethrower almost catching his brown wavy hair on fire.

"W-what the hell!?" Said Dad falling back on the floor.

"I think she's scared of you dad, and she doesn't seem to have anywhere else to go, can I keep her?" I said giving him the old puppy eyes trick.

It shook its head and began licking my face.

"I guess, it's alright with me, I was kinda hoping we'd catch your first Pokemon together though..." He said standing up.

"But I guess you're eleven now and you should be able to get your own... I was hoping you'd wait a year, but Chad already has one, so why can't you have one too? Whatever one you pick, I'm sure it'll be a good addition to the family. Welcome, Vulpix." He said slowly and cautiously putting his hand on her orange curls and patted them softly.

I ran upstairs and into the bathroom. I put Vulpix on the floor and took off my light green shirt and looked at it. It was covered in mud. My pants were dirty as hell too. I took them off, and threw them in the dirty clothes pile and started the running water for the tub. Vulpix's eyes widened and began scratching at the door.

"Oh no you don't!" I said picking it up as it waved its arms and feet around letting off small flamethrowers.

"You need a bath, you're about as grimy as a-Grim-no, a Muk! You look like a Muk with all that dirt on you!" I said holding her down as she flailed around.

I heard the door click. It was Beka, she opened the door and at the same time, Vulpix let out a bigger flamethrower. It singed Beka's white tank top. Bekas eyes opened wide and gave me a blank look and shut the door. She blinked her eyes for a second to try and think what just happened. She shook her head. Vulpix stopped and looked at the door confused.

"What the fuck is that!? It burned my shirt!" She said opening the door a crack and hiding behind it.

"Your sister got a flamethrower!" Dad yelled from downstairs laughing.

I could feel Vulpix stop struggling and I turned it around and held it in my arms.

"I saved this Vulpix from drowning off the bridge" I said.

"Just tell me what happened after you take a bath, you're dirty as hell, Look at all this mud you've tracked..." Said Beka closing the door. I could hear her walk down the stairs mumbling about her shirt. I could hear dad laughing at her.

I looked down at Vulpix who was giving me an angry look. "Look, this water is safe, you're not gonna get hurt. You need a bath, your fur is a mess, I promise it'll feel good!" I said smiling.

Vulpix glared at me. I walked over and sat in the tub, not to hot, not to cold. I could feel Vulpix's body relax and clam down.

"Voe! Voe!" She said. She sat in my lap and began splashing. I began to laugh as she tried to lick the shampoo I put in my hands.

"This isn't to eat; it's to put in my hair. Humans and Pokemon have different shampoos. Shampoos clean your hair or fur. Here, you can pick out which one you want." I opened Beka's Pokemon shampoo bottles and softly squeezed it under Vulpix's nose. Her eyes got large and she bit the top of the bottle.

"Hey! I said it's not to eat! You'll get sick! It tastes bad!" I said trying to pry it from its mouth. she began growling at me. I lifted the bottle into the air with her attached to it and began shaking it. She still didn't let go. I smirked.

"Fine, if that's how you want it!" I squirted the shampoo into her mouth. She let go and began whining. "See, I told you, it's only to make you smell good, it taste bad."

She settled down inside the tub again and I ran the faucet as she licked the cold water getting rid of the shampoo in her mouth. I put some shampoo on her as she was drinking and lathered her up. She began to relax again and sat back and didn't fuss.

"Haha, feels pretty good don't it?"

"Voooeeee." She said nodding. I washed her down and got as much grime off of her as I could. I scrubbed her brown coat, and got the white part on her chest as it turned from a dark gray to a sparkling white coat. I brushed her orange curls and washed those too. I washed myself and got out of the tub. Vulpix was trying to drink the last of the water that was running down the drain.

"You must be hungry; I'm pretty damn starving too." At that time, both of our stomachs growled. We looked at each other and laughed.

"Let's get something to eat after I get dressed."

I wrapped a pink towel around her and began patting her down and dried her off. I grabbed a big blue towel with a Gyarados on it and wrapped it around me and Vulpix followed me with a pink towel draped over her into my room.

I got dressed and watched her look around my room sniffing everything. I walked over to my drawer and grabbed some clothes, sat down on my bed and began getting dressed. She sniffed my Snorlax beanbag chair and pawed at it a few times trying to see if it was alive or not.

I got up and opened the door and walked down the hall.

"Now it's time to eat!" I said now running down the hall. She started to run after me making excited yipping sounds. I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. I could smell the food mom was making, I saw mom standing there, she had long brown hair in a pony tail with glasses. She smiled at me and handed me a sandwich and explained to me that dinner would be ready later. I told her and my sister that night what happened.

Things in the house for that weekend went pretty smoothly, mom and dad made me stay around the house so I introduced Vulpix to my mother's Ponytas and Rapidashs. They seemed to get along. And for a while, life seemed busy, but in a good way. Chad was too afraid to say or do anything to me in fear of ratting him out. And I didn't care, in a few days I would turn twelve and headed out on my own journey. And that day came a lot faster then I realized. I had trained and studied all the books on Pokemon I could find, I did practice battles in the court yard at school and had won most of them.

I graduated trainers' school and was on my way to bigger and better things. Miss Katsy gave me a copy of her notebook she had written when she was on her journey. It was very detailed on things to eat in the wild, and things to avoid. But it made me very happy she hugged me as I stood on stage with my diploma and we all celebrated that night. And the next day would be the day I turned 15 and would start my own journey.

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My sister had packed everything for me, she got me a brand new red backpack, running shoes, hiking boots, a fishing pole, extra clothes, underwear and cooking utensils with pots and pans that could fold or double in their uses for other things.

"Stay away from weird guys, don't fall in any diglet holes, and don't give your Pokemon to anyone-"

My sister had been rambling on and on but she had told me all of this before. I petted Vulpix and looked down at her.

"Are you ready to head out?" I said smiling.

She nodded and began licking my face and making more yipping sounds.

My sister sighed and rolled her eyes as she folded my clothes and packed them neatly into my bag.

My mom came up and packed food, water and a basic medical kit into my pack also.

"Nao, your father would like to see you downstairs." Mother said softly.

I nodded, hugged my mom and sister goodbye and walked down the stairs with my backpack on. Damn, it's so heavy...

My father was waiting out in the driveway standing there with a serious look on his face holding something.

"So, you're not even going to stay to eat your cake?" He said looking down at me.

"Nah, we want to get going!"

"Well, you're kind of forgetting something important." I looked at him confused.

He held out his hand, a green cargo jacket.

"Inside the pockets are other pockets that zip closed, there are small clips to put your pokeballs in it. It's pretty damn neat, and apparently you don't even feel the clips against you. Or so the store lady said."

He walked over and helped me put on the jacket. It was light, but I could tell it was durable. I reached inside and grabbed a pokeball.

"You haven't even caught your first Pokemon yet..." He said looking at Vulpix.

I turned my gaze towards the small brown creature rubbing against my leg. I had told Vulpix about what an amazing team we would make, and we would secretly stay up to watch the battles on T.V.

"So... Do you still want to come with me, Nai?"

Nai nodded.

My dad had looked at me confused.

"Nai?"

"Nai is short for Ninetales. And I might as well get used to calling her that now, since she will be one, one day."

"Nao and Nai, huh?" He said smirking.

I held clicked the white center of the ball and it expanded in my hand.

"Nai, take good care of my daughter, and protect her, please." He said petting her orange curls. Before I knew what was going on a huge orange flame came out of Nai's mouth. My father smiled.

"That's the sprit!" He said.

I pressed the ball against Nai and a red beam zapped her into it. I held the ball as it wobbled around in my hand and then stopped.

"Just remember to train a bit before you decide to enter a gym, and try and use a Pokemon with a type advantage against them. There's a red pokedex I got from the Professor In Pallet Town for you in your pocket, I'm sure you can figure out how to use it. But remember to go and see him. Keep out of trouble." And with that, he hugged me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and watched me let Nai out of her ball, and run down the driveway and waved me off on my journey. I left route 13 and wouldn't be back any time soon.

My goal was to catch a boat from Vermillion City to Pallet town in a few days. A man there drives new trainers who live far away from the first gym to Pallet Town to help trainers get to Pewter City faster. And that's where I was headed.

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I began walking and came to the docks headed towards route 12. Nao walked along side me as we got to the docks. There are plenty of old guys here fishing. I set my bag down and hauled out my fishing pole. I guess the benefits of being a fishermen's daughter is so long as there's water, I'll never go hungry. I dug through my bag and grabbed my retractable pole and tied a jig to it.

"It's our first day out on our own Nai, we're gonna have to get used to fishing and foraging to feed ourselves. And maybe while we're here we can get water Pokemon."

Nai and I sat down and I plunked the jig into the water, an old guy walked over and handed me a piece of paper with the number 16 on it. "Number 16! We start in 5 minutes, are you ready!?"

"What?"

"Good! The biggest or rarest catch gets the prize. It's a Seadra this time!" The old man took off shouting the remaining minutes.

Before I knew it, I had entered a contest. Might as well make the best of it.

The man shouted "GO!" as we all casted out our lines. A few minutes in a man had caught a Shelder. The next had gotten a Goldeen.

There! I had finally gotten a bite! Oh fuck yeah, I'll make dad proud.

I reeled as fast as I could; it felt like nothing was on it. I saw a small orange fish in the water fighting pathetically against me. It broke the surface as I reeled it up and I held it up on the line.

A small Magikarp weighing maybe 2 pounds. _Great_...

I heard laughing and turned to see the old men laughing at me. "First time fishin' dear?" An old man said. I sighed and tossed the carp back.

I casted my line back out again and immediately I had another bite. I reeled it as fast as I could and again, and again it was the same 2lb Magikarp. They old men began laughing again as they sipped their beers. This continued again and again. The damn thing wouldn't stop going for my jig! As soon as I knew it, the old man announced the contest was over. I turned to see the old men who had won by catching a large krabby. As I reeled in my line, the same Magikarp was on the line.

"The hell am I supposed to do with_ you_!?" This was really starting to piss me off and not at all how I wanted to start my day.

"Just catch it! It seems ta like ya' kid!" Said an old man folding up his lawn chair and packing up his cooler.

Nai sniffed the Magikarp as it flailed around on the line. It slapped her in the face with its tail. Nai let out an ember and the Magikarp stopped moving for a second like it didn't even feel it. It then suddenly slapped her in the face again. Nai began to growl and inhale to get ready to use a flamethrower as the fish began flailing against her.

I quickly faced my pole away as the Magikarp swung over to the other side of me. I fell down from Nai trying to climb up my leg to get to it. Before I knew what was happening, a pokeball from my pocket I forgot to zip up, fell out and rolled over to the Karp. Magikarp began flailing on the ground next to it and slapped the white button enlarging the ball, again and again, with that blank face, mouth open gasping for water. And before I knew it, a red beam shot out and zapped the fish into my ball.

Nai and I now watched the ball roll, wide eyed hoping this wasn't happening. And the second what just happened sank in, the ding of the ball sounded and it stopped rolling.

My second Pokemon, a Magikarp... _Great_.

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I tucked the ball into my pocket and zipped it. I looked at the sky and then glanced at my watch; it was only 8:30am.

"Nai, let's just eat some lunch and then head to Lavender Town." Nai nodded as we sat down at the end of the docks on the grass and I took out a sandwich and some dry food for Nai. I took off my jacket and neatly folded it then sat on it. As I was finishing eating, a girl with long brown hair with two tight drill long curls against both sides of her cheeks was walking this way. She had a purple light jacket on with a cream color sundress under it. She looked around my age. I pretended not to look and looked down at Nai eating her lunch. As a shadow came into my peripheral, I looked over and saw the girl standing there.

"That's a pretty Vulpix, how much for it?" She said in a very serious tone.

"Uh- Nai's not for sale." I said

She took out a pokeball and tossed it. Out popped an Eevee.

"Then how about a trade?"

This caught Nai's attention. She came over to me and rested her brown head with neat little orange curls on my leg. I pulled out my pokedex and scanned the Eevee then put it back in my pocket.

Eevees are a luxury Pokemon; I've heard they're worth thousands. But I've never seen one in person. I bet her parents paid a pretty penny for it...

"No thank you." I said.

Her face got darker as she sighed. I could tell she was the type that never got told "no" growing up. I really hated rich kids. She returned the Eevee.

"You'll regret it, Eevees are worth thousands."

I picked up Nai and cuddled her. "Love is worth more than all the money in the world."

She glanced at the ground and folded her arms. "I guess you're right, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." I took out Magikarps ball out of my pocket and held it in the pam of my hand.

"I'll trade _you_ this totally awesome super special mega magical Magikarp for it if you'd like though." I said half serious and half joking.

She looked up and started to laugh lightly, her dark expression melted away.

"What's your name?" She said with a softer expression on her face now.

"Nao, and you?"

"Alice, and I'll remember that."

"Good, because you'll be seeing a lot more of _me_ in the leagues on T.V."

"Oh? and how many badges do _you_ have?"

"I uh.. I actually just set out today on my journey.." I said sort of mumbling.

She smirked and reached into her pocket and hauled out a purple case and opened it. It had five badges in it. She stuck out her tongue and winked.

"Well, I guess you'll be seeing me on T.V long before you even catch up to me."

"H-how old are you!?" This really shocked me. I wasn't expecting this chick to have so much as even two badges.

"Eleven, and you?" She said smirking.

Normally, it takes quite a long time to be able to work your way up to gyms. This made me bite down on the side of my cheek.

"Twelve.." I said looking at Nai now finishing the rest of her food.

Alice laughed. "Well, it's been fun chatting with you, Nao, but I really must get going. I'm headed back home to Lavender Town. Come by if you'd like to come and _play_ sometime." She smirked and winked.

"And be careful, Brock has an Onix and uses rock type Pokemon. A water Pokemon or a grass type would be your best bet against it. But I'm sure your Magikarp could take care of it, if it's that_ amazing_. Be careful. There are also strange men out there in black suits out there stealing Pokemon."

She waved and walked off and headed down the road.

"Nai, let's take her advice and try and catch some other Pokemon before we get there." Nai nodded and picked up her empty food bowl and brought it over to me as I wiped it clean and stuck it back in my pack. I took out Magikarps ball and stared at it. Dads first Pokemon was a Magikarp.. I'll get this bastard to evolve and he'll be even stronger then dads.

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